


The Mer in the Lake

by MollyPollyKinz



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom
Genre: Child Neglect, Dehumanization, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Merpeople, tommy is a lonely mer and the sbi are going to give him found family, tommy is the only mer in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29892459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollyPollyKinz/pseuds/MollyPollyKinz
Summary: Tommy had lived in this lake for as long as he could remember.At first, he had a guardian. Someone who cared about him, who came to visit him. He was a human, but that was okay, because humans were better than mer like Tommy.Now, he was alone.Or, he was, until a human decided to begin sitting at the shore of his lake.
Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 46
Kudos: 817
Collections: Completed stories I've read, Found family to make me feel something





	The Mer in the Lake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilverWing15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWing15/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Turn of the Tide](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29698962) by [SilverWing15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWing15/pseuds/SilverWing15). 



Tommy had lived in this lake for as long as he could remember.

At first, he had a guardian. Someone who cared about him, who came to visit him. He was a human, but that was okay, because humans were better than mer like Tommy.

His guardian would sometimes take Tommy’s rich red scales. Tommy didn’t mind, though, because his guardian needed them. His guardian needed the scales to be able to take care of Tommy. Besides, afterwards, his guardian would always hug Tommy and stroke his hair, and Tommy would forget all about the pain in his scales.

But one day Tommy refused to have his scales taken. He wasn’t sure what had come over him that day, but Tommy just _couldn’t_ lose any more of his scales.

His guardian had begun hitting him, screaming for Tommy to stay still as he began _ripping_ the scales off of Tommy’s tail, and Tommy only managed to get away by swimming to the lake’s floor, which was actually very deep. His guardian couldn’t follow.

Tommy hurt all over. He wished he had a shell like a turtle. Then maybe he wouldn’t be so hurt.

Whenever his guardian came by, Tommy ducked underneath the surface of the lake, hoping he would leave.

Finally, his guardian stopped returning, and Tommy was alone again.

That was alright with him. There were fish and turtles to keep him company, and they were enough.

Sometimes, though, Tommy would peak his head out of the water, looking for any signs of anyone else existing in the world.

But there was no one. Tommy was alone.

But that was okay! Tommy was always alone. He was used to it. There was no need to get upset about it now.

The sun was just peaking over the horizon one day when Tommy swam to the surface, curious to see if there was anything new. Some days, there were new plants growing along the edge of the lake, and it was interesting to play with the different stalks and flowers that Tommy could actually reach from his spot in the lake.

To Tommy’s surprise, however, it wasn’t a new, interesting plant that greeted him on the edge of the lake.

No. Instead, it was a tall human. His pink hair was pulled into a braid, and he was sitting on the edge of the lake, seemingly doing nothing but staring at the water’s surface.

When Tommy’s head peeked out of the surface, the human looked in his direction. Tommy let out a startled trill and immediately ducked back down into the water.

Humans were bad, humans were bad, the last time Tommy had trusted a human he had been beaten and his scales had been peeled away, humans were bad, humans were _bad…_

The human didn’t follow him into the water, much to Tommy’s relief. Tommy wasn’t sure what he would do if he had.

The human came back the next day, and this time, Tommy found himself watching him a few feet underneath the surface of the water.

The human was holding something rectangular and looking down at it. Every so often, the human would move another slip in the rectangular object and continue staring.

Tommy didn’t know what to make of it. Curiosity burned at his chest.

But he didn’t reveal himself. Tommy still had nightmares about his guardian returning, about his guardian coming to take him away from his lake, about his guardian taking away his scales, taking away his entire tail…

A horrified shiver ran down Tommy’s spine, and he swam deeper into the lake, unable to watch the human anymore.

It wasn’t until the third day of watching the human do nothing but stare at the rectangle that Tommy finally cracked, allowing his head to break through the surface of the water.

The human looked over at Tommy, clearly startled, but Tommy ignored his surprise, instead electing to say, “What are you doing?”

His voice sounded accusatory, and humans didn’t like that, but Tommy couldn’t help it. This dumb human kept coming back _every single day,_ doing basically nothing, and Tommy couldn’t stand it anymore.

However, the human didn’t glare, or yell, or threaten him like his guardian had. Instead, he closed the weird rectangle and said, “I’m just reading, man. I can leave if you want.”

Tommy frowned. “What the heck is reading?”

It was the human’s turn to frown, and Tommy instantly shrunk away, sinking half of his face back into the water, only allowing his hair and eyes to be visible.

The human’s eyes widened, and he quickly raised his hands in a strange way. Tommy swam backwards, away from the human and his hands.

“Crap,” the human said, sounding strangely panicked, “Don’t swim away. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

Tommy didn’t move.

The human looked down at his rectangle. “And, um, reading is where you look at words written down in a book. You know what writing is?”

Tommy shook his head reluctantly.

The human glanced up at the sky. What was he thinking about? Did he think Tommy was stupid? Tommy wouldn’t be surprised; he was pretty stupid. All mer were pretty stupid.

“I can… um… teach you,” the human said slowly, clearing his throat, “How to read and write, you know.”

Tommy perked up in spite of himself. “Really?” he asked.

He still didn’t know what reading and writing was, but he could try to learn. He could try to be smarter.

The human shrugged. “Yeah,” he said, “It shouldn’t be _too_ hard.”

Tommy doubted that. Mer were harder to teach than humans. Mer were less developed than humans; that’s why they were always trapped in the water, unable to leave.

Or, at least, that’s what his guardian had always taught him. Before he left, that was.

Tommy knew that he shouldn’t trust this human. That he should swim back to the lake’s floor and hope that human would leave one day.

Instead, he found himself swimming toward the human, stopping when he was only a few feet away from his spot on the edge of the lake.

“Can you show me?” he asked timidly.

The human stood up. “Yeah, uh, let me just go get some stuff. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Tommy nodded. There wasn’t much he could do anyway. The human was free to go wherever he wanted with those legs off his, and Tommy was trapped with his tail and fins.

Tommy wished he had legs. If he had legs, nobody would try to steal his scales. If he had legs, he would be free to go where he wanted.

Instead, he was trapped. Trapped with a tail. Trapped with scars where scales were taken away too quickly and too violently. Trapped with the memories of his guardian still beating against his skull.

To Tommy’s surprise, the human came back not long after he had left. Now, he was holding some more strange rectangles. Tommy wished he knew what they were called. Maybe he could ask. Would the human be mad about that?

“I brought some more books,” the human said lifting the rectangles up for Tommy to see. Was that what the strange rectangles were called? Books?

Tommy heaved himself out of the lake and sat next to the human on the grassy shore. The human stared at Tommy’s tail for a moment, and Tommy shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he should dive back into the water, where it was safer.

The human stopped staring, though, instead electing to hand Tommy a book. Tommy took it reverently, rubbing his fingers against the smooth outside in awe. He had never held a book before. He didn’t even know what a book was until ten minutes ago.

“I’m Techno, by the way,” the human, _Techno,_ said.

“Tommy,” Tommy muttered, not sure why he was choosing to trust Techno so much.

Maybe it was the books. Maybe Tommy’s curiosity had finally gotten the better of him. Maybe it was Techno’s pink hair and the way Tommy was so tempted to touch it.

He didn’t, though. He didn’t want to make Techno mad.

Over the next few weeks, Techno showed Tommy how to read and write, explaining every little thing Tommy didn’t know about, even down to what pages were.

“You’re a fast learner,” Techno had praised once, and Tommy felt himself grow very warm inside.

He didn’t know mer could be fast learners, but it was nice to know that it was possible.

One day, however, it wasn’t Techno sitting on the shore, waiting with the books like he always did.

No. Instead, it was a human with brown fluffy hair tucked under a hat. The human seemed to be playing with a wooden something in his hand.

It was making the most beautiful sounds. The sounds made Tommy want to laugh and cry and dance around.

At first, Tommy was reluctant to face the new human with the beautiful sounds. Techno might be alright, but what if _this_ human wanted to hurt him? Just because there was one nice human didn’t mean the rest of them were so nice. That wasn’t how the world worked.

Techno still came around to teach Tommy how to read. Tommy didn’t mention the new human. He didn’t want Techno to think that Tommy was a coward or trying to replace Techno or something.

After two days, however, Tommy decided to breach the water’s surface, if only to hear the beautiful sounds better.

Unfortunately, the beautiful sounds stopped as soon as Tommy came out of the water. The human making them with his wooden something was looking at him in shock, like he hadn’t expected Tommy to be living at his own home.

“Who are you?” Tommy demanded.

The human looked surprised, but he managed to say, “I’m Wilbur.”

Tommy relaxed marginally. His guardian had never given Tommy his name, insisting that he was Tommy’s guardian, and that’s all that mattered. Tommy used to believe him. Now… Tommy wasn’t so sure.

“How are you making the sounds?” Tommy asked, his voice more cautious than before.

He really had been spending way too much time with Techno; it was stupid of him to make his first introduction so rude.

Wilbur stared at Tommy before glancing down at his wooden object. “I use my guitar,” he said simply, strumming some of the strings on the wooden object, the _guitar,_ “Would you like to hear more?”

Against his better judgment, Tommy nodded.

His day developed a new routine. Wilbur would sing him songs in the morning, every so often teaching Tommy how to use the guitar, and Techno would teach him reading in the afternoon.

It was nice, having company again.

It was in between Wilbur and Techno’s time with Tommy that a new human came to his lake, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and some baggy pants.

This human was older than the other humans. This human was more dangerous.

The human sat down on the shore of the lake, and Tommy dived toward the bottom of the shore without a second thought.

_Humans were bad, humans could hurt him, humans were dangerous, tommy wasn’t safe, he needed to get out—_

But there wasn’t anywhere Tommy could go. He was trapped. Like he always was.

The day after the new human arrived, Wilbur brought him up.

“Phil said he visited you yesterday,” Wilbur said calmly, still strumming his guitar, “He said you didn’t talk to him.”

Tommy curled in on himself. “Why would I talk to him?” Tommy demanded, “He’s a human, he—”

“I’m a human,” Wilbur said calmly, “You talk to me.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and allowing himself to sink deeper into the water. “It’s different. You’re not going to…”

Wilbur gave Tommy a serious look. “Not going to what?”

“Nothing,” Tommy mumbled, “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

There was a small silence as Wilbur continued strumming the guitar. Eventually, he said,

“Listen… Phil won’t hurt you,” Wilbur said calmly, staring up at the bright blue sky, “He’s too nice for that.”

Tommy thought his guardian was nice too. He didn’t talk to Phil that day.

Techno didn’t say much on the subject, just telling Tommy to take his time. Phil didn’t mind.

On the fourth day, Tommy allowed his head to peek from the surface of the water. To Tommy’s surprise, Phil’s head didn’t snap toward Tommy like Techno’s and Wilbur’s did.

Instead, Phil continued staring at the water, seemingly deep in thought.

“Hey, mate,” Phil said, “How are you feeling?”

Tommy shrugged, sinking a few centimeters deeper into the water. “I’m good,” he murmured.

Phil smiled. “That’s good… that’s good. I hear Techno is helping you read and write?”

Tommy nodded.

He and Phil spent the rest of the hour in silence, and then Phil left so that Techno could return to do their lesson.

A new piece of the routine was added. In between guitar with Wilbur and reading lessons with Technoblade, Tommy would also have an hour to speak to Phil.

Everything came to a head after about a month of Tommy knowing Phil, Wilbur, and Technoblade.

It had been a bad day. Tommy had nightmares of his guardian coming back and ripping out all of his scales and leaving him alone again. He had dreams of Wilbur, Technoblade, and Phil declaring that they didn’t need him and that they would leave and never return.

Tommy was scared of Phil and Wilbur and Technoblade leaving. Tommy wanted to stay with them forever. Tommy didn’t want to be alone again.

So, suffice it to say, Tommy was pretty antsy that day, already swimming half around half of the lake anxiously.

So when Wilbur lightly grabbed Tommy’s hand to help him out of the water so that he could teach Tommy how to play guitar better, Tommy kind of freaked out.

And by freaked out, he let out a startled scream, punched Wilbur in the face, and dove back into the water in a panic.

The realization that they had _punched Wilbur in the face_ did not calm Tommy down at all. As a matter of fact, it only made the panic worse, like a constant echoing in his ear:

_You screwed up, you screwed up, you screwed up, you screwed up, you screwed up, you screwed up_

Phil was now standing on the shore, and Tommy had half a mind to hide at the bottom of the lake’s floor forever and never reveal himself again.

But… Wilbur might get extra angry if he didn’t come up to Phil immediately.

Steeling himself, Tommy forced himself to swim up to Phil, who was waiting seemingly patiently for Tommy’s arrival.

“Hey, Toms,” Phil said softly, “I was just thinking about you.”

Tommy snorted. “Well, you are standing right next to my lake.”

He flinched right after saying it. Why was he joking around? That was only going to get him into worse trouble.

“Wilbur’s not mad at you,” Phil said, “You don’t have to worry about that.”

Tommy stared at Phil in shock. Wilbur… wasn’t mad at him? But that was impossible, Tommy had _punched_ Wilbur in the face; there was no way that Wilbur couldn’t be mad at him; that wasn’t how humans _worked._

Tears were building up in Tommy’s eyes, and the small crystals humans called “mermaids tears” began slipping out before Tommy could stop them.

“Oh,” Phil whispered softly, inserting himself into a shallow portion of the lake and holding his arms out for an embrace, “Come here.”

Tommy swam closer to Phil, and Phil gently wrapped his arms around him. Tommy cried all the more at the touch, because when was the last time he had been hugged like this? His guardian had only ever hugged him after Tommy let him take his scales, and even then, the hugging was a rare treat.

It felt so _warm._ Tommy never wanted to leave the embrace.

“Hey, Toms?” Phil whispered, “I know a place where lots of mer like you live. Wouldn’t you like to go there?”

Tommy frowned. “Lots of mer?” he whispered.

“Yeah.” Phil rubbed Tommy’s back gently. “You wouldn’t be so lonely anymore.”

“Would you be there?” Tommy asked, grabbing onto Phil’s shirt tightly.

Phil let out a small chuckle. “We would all visit, yes.”

Tommy let his grip relax a bit, and he bit the inside of his cheek, thinking it over. Did he really want to leave the lake he had called home for so many years, just for more company?

Yes. Yes, he did.

“Okay,” Tommy said, smiling slightly, “Yeah, I’ll go.”

Phil smiled so widely that Tommy felt like his entire body was filled with warmth. “I’m glad.”

**Author's Note:**

> The newest chapter of Breathing's Just a Rhythm is going, but I decided to write this to keep people occupied. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, please be nice in the comments, and thanks for reading! <3


End file.
